I just wanted to share my experience so far and hopefully get some feedback about this. I know there is a lot of controversy over chiropractors, and I know a lot of people on this board swear by them, so maybe i can get a second opiinon here.
Here's the story
About 2 months ago I did some deadlifts that left me aching (i think I strained/sprained a muscle back there). After taking some time off (about 10 days), I felt okay to go back to exercising. It went fine until the third time I went, which is when I began to do squats again, and that brought back the pain. Same thing, rested for a while, then started. This time i decided not to do squats but I gradually started doing hyperextensions for the lower back (started with 4 reps, and gradually went up). Felt no pain but one day it just came back after the hyperextensions. This time I figured I should go with some professional opinion.
So I went to a nearby chiro. I explained to him the situation, he did some checks and everything was fine, then he did an xray. I also had some electro-therapy and massage done. When I went back, again they did the electro-therapy and massage. Then he went on to show me the xrays. According to the xray, he said my spine is a little curved to the right, and this is causeing the nerves between the spine to get aggravated, and thats what causes the pain. So he did three movements that made some cracking noises and he recommended I keep going once a week.
The thing that I'm kind of weary about is that my pain seems to go from lower back to glutes and sometimes even to my hamstrings (slightly), and across the whole (not just to one side), yet the nerves being agravated are to the right, does this make sense? So far I've gone twice (after the first visit) and I feel about the same, not sure how fast these things are supposed to take effect.

Sorry for the long post and thanks for any feedback.

Can I ask (well, I am!) why you went to a chiropractor instead of an MD? I went to an orthopedic dude a week back. One of these days I'll make a post about it...

If he didn't tell you how many weeks you would need to recover, I would not go back.

I have only seen 1 Chiropractor for a chronic back problem that was getting worse. Recommended by a very experienced cyclist as a good ‘sports injury’ chiropractor.

He took x-rays and showed me that I had a kink in my spine caused by bad posture. Although he did some adjusting, we spent most of the time talking about posture, the way it affects the back/spine and exercises to deal with it. After 4 visits he told me basically not to bother coming back, that if I wanted temporary relief I should see someone closer for massage etc.. Everything made sense, was well explained with good rationale.

Now I know this is not your situation, but basically I learned what a ‘good’ chiropractor should do and from other stories what ‘bad’ ones often do – which is work your back visit after visit with little or no explanation of how what they are doing is helping your situation or how long it should take to recover. Although he did say that for non-chronic problems, like specific injuries, several weeks to months of working the back is necessary. However, unless he/she tells you exactly how it is going to solve your problem, I think you could be wasting your time.

Also, he showed me an x-ray of a spine that was distorted all over the place, yet the person had no long-term pain or back problems. So just because your spine is distorted does not necessarily mean you have a problem. Also this curve may or may not be related to your injury.

A question I would have is if the curvature is due to the injury, will what he/she is doing straighten it out and if so how long will it take? If it is due to posture or one leg being slightly shorter than the other, it may be something you have always had and not related to your current pain. Without a detailed picture it is hard to explain, but it depends on how the back is touching or constricting the nerves as to what you might expect as far as pain and problems down the road.

The fact that is may be more of a muscular injury is suspicious. I wonder if it is just inflamed muscles constricting the nerved, that than the spine?

BTW, the nerves coming out of your lower spine do go to your legs, so if one is being constricted or pushed on it would not be surprising that you would have pain in your legs. Apparently is it not uncommon for people with chronic lower back problems to eventually have problems with walking and use of their legs.

Well, I don’t know if this was much help, but I would certainly suggest seeing a few different people, preferably someone with a good reputation that specializes (at least in part) in sports related injuries.

thanks,
he actually told me to go a couple weeks (this Thursday will be the second week) and we would see after that how things are going. So if he doesn't say anything this week i'll ask him what's upp. i'm also planning to see someone else this week to get another opinion.